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Le déserteur (2008 film)

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Le déserteur
Directed bySimon Lavoie
Written bySimon Lavoie (play)
Produced bySimon Lavoie
StarringÉmile Proulx-Cloutier
Raymond Cloutier
Danielle Proulx
Viviane Audet
Benoît Gouin
Gilles Renaud
Release date
  • 2008 (2008)
Running time
90 min
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

Le déserteur is a 2008 Quebec feature film directed by Simon Lavoie. The film stars Émile Proulx-Cloutier, Raymond Cloutier, Danielle Proulx, Viviane Audet, Benoît Gouin and Gilles Renaud.[1][2]

It tells the story of Georges Guénette, a deserter from the Canadian Army during World War II, who was shot and killed by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Background

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Georges Guénette was a deserter from the Canadian Army and, like many French Canadians during World War II, an opponent of the war and conscription.

In May 1944, a few months after Guénette deserted from the army, four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers found Guenette in his father's farmhouse, in St-Lambert-de-Lévis (near Quebec City). He jumped out of a window and ran across the fields. Guénette fell, wounded "by a ricocheting bullet," and died without the last rites of the church.[3]

Two RCMP officers were later charged with manslaughter in Guénette's death, and the shooting was an issue in the 1944 Quebec general election.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Kellt, Brendan (October 23, 2008). "Review: Le Deserteur". The Gazette. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  2. ^ Demers, Maxime (December 19, 2007). "Georges Guénette, déserteur". Le Journal de Montréal (in French).
  3. ^ Time, Monday, May 22, 1944 ([1])
  4. ^ "The Week in Quebec". The Coaticook Observer. November 17, 1944. Retrieved 2008-10-25.